Background
Lorenz was born in Oldislobene in 1868. His father"s interest in genealogy may have influenced Alfred Lorenz"s later interest in race and his eventual involvement with Nazi ideology.
composer conductor musicologist theorist
Lorenz was born in Oldislobene in 1868. His father"s interest in genealogy may have influenced Alfred Lorenz"s later interest in race and his eventual involvement with Nazi ideology.
Lorenz"s father was Ottokar Lorenz, a historian who studied genealogy.
His principal work is the four-volume, which attempts to comprehensively analyze some of Richard Wagner"s best-known operas. Lorenz"s work reflects to a great extent his sympathy with Nazi ideology, and has only recently been discredited by scholarship. In 1885, Lorenz moved to Jena, where he began his legal studies in 1886.
Lorenz ended his legal studies in 1889, and began studying music with Robert Radecke and Philipp Spitta in Berlin.
Lorenz"s career as a conductor and composer lasted until 1920, when he was forced to retire by the Social Democrats. Lorenz then moved to Munich, where he spent the rest of his life as an academic.
Lorenz joined the Nazi party in 1931, and remained an active party member until his death in 1939.